Thai and hill tribe women and
girls are trafficked to Japan,
Malaysia, South Africa, Bahrain,
Australia, Singapore, Europe,
Canada and the United States
for sexual and labor exploitation.
1 Many women are girls are
trafficked by international
criminal syndicates. 2 Many Thai
are lured to Taiwan, Malaysia,
the United States, and the
Middle East by labor recruiting
agencies and are forced into
involuntary servitude because of
the high debt owed to the
agencies. 3
Within the country women were
trafficked from the impoverished
Northeast and the North to
Bangkok for sexual exploitation.
However, internal trafficking of
women appeared to be on the
decline, due to prevention
programs and better economic
opportunities. Women also were
trafficked to Japan, Malaysia,
Singapore, Bahrain, Australia,
South Africa, Europe, and the
United States chiefly for sexual
exploitation but also for
sweatshop labor. Men were
trafficked into the country for
commercial fisheries and farm,
industrial, and construction
labor. Prosecution of traffickers
of men was complicated by the
lack of coverage in the law. 4
Transit
A number of women and girls
from Burma, Cambodia, and
Vietnam transit through
Thailand's southern border to
Malaysia for sexual exploitation
primarily in Johor Bahru, across
from Singapore. 5 Anecdotal
evidence also points to an
increase in trafficking of foreign
migrants for sexual exploitation.
Burmese, Khmer, Lao and ethnic
minority girls/young women have
been reported trafficked in
border areas and into major
urban centres and sometimes
through Thailand to third
countries such as Malaysia, Japan
and destinations in Europe and
North America. 6
Destination
Thailand is a destination country
for men, women, and children
who are trafficked from Burma,
Cambodia, Laos, People ’s
Republic of China, Russia, and
Uzbekistan for sexual and labor
exploitation. 7 Children are
trafficked for commercial sex
and forced labor in begging,
fishing, and fish processing.
Sometimes entire families were
trafficked for forced labor in
sweatshops. 8 Many Burmese
victims voluntarily migrate to
Thailand and are later coerced
into work in agriculture,
factories, construction,
commercial fisheries industries,
begging, or as domestic servants.
The ILO and a government
university reported that fishing,
construction, commercial
agriculture and domestic service
are the industries with the most
documented migrant workers in
forced labor, including children.
9 In September police raided a
shrimp processing factory in
Samut Sakhon and found more
than 100 Burmese workers who
had been held on the premises
against their will. The traffickers
were loosely organized small
groups, with Burmese, Laotian,
Cambodian, and Thai individuals
who transported victims along
the Thai border for forced labor.
10
Internal Trafficking
Thailand is a country with
internal trafficking of women
and children for commercial
sexual exploitation, and labor
trafficking.
Causes
There are many causes of
human trafficking in Thailand. 11
Many argue that Thailand is a
destination for human trafficking
because of its relative affluence
in the Greater Sub-Mekong
Region.
The Thai Government
The Thai Government was placed
in Tier 2 in the 2007 U.S.
Department of State ’s Trafficking
in Persons Report for not fully
complying with the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act ’s minimum
standards for the elimination of
trafficking but making significant
efforts to do so. There are
reports of local government
officials who are complicit in
trafficking. 12 Since the
September 2006 military coup,
Thai government efforts to
combat trafficking remain
uncertain.
The 1997 Prevention and
Suppression of Trafficking in
Women and Children Act
criminalize trafficking for sexual
exploitation. Penalties range
from imprisonment for a year to
life and fines of $50 to $1000.
Penalties for trafficking of
children between the age of 15
to 18 range from 3 to 15 years
of imprisonment and a fine.
Penalties for trafficking children
under the age of 15 ranges from
five to 20 years of imprisonment
and a fine. 13 Male victims are
not included in the victim
protection provision of Thai laws
for trafficking. There are no laws
that criminalize labor trafficking
and the trafficking of men. A
draft law which allows for
prosecution of all forms of
trafficking was finalized in 2006
but awaits passage in the
legislature. 14
Prosecution
The Government of Thailand
reported 88 arrests in cases
brought against traffickers in the
period from September 2005
through February 2007, involving
a total of 100 victims. No public
officials or law enforcement
officials were arrested for being
complicit in trafficking in 2006. 15
Protection
The Thai government provides
victim protection to foreign
victims of sex trafficking and Thai
citizens who have returned from
trafficking situations abroad. The
government supports shelters
where victims receive
psychological counseling, food,
board, and medical care. The
government also collaborates
with the International
Organization for Migration to set
up transit facilities and shelters.
The government does not
adequately identify its trafficking
victims; males have been
deported without interviews to
determine if they had been
trafficked. The government
allocated 500 million baht for
trafficking victim care in 2005 but
only 100 million baht has been
authorized since. In 2006, IOM
returned 343 people to their
home countries.
Thailand: the Trafficker of Asia